What we
liked: The two towers of the Marriott Hotel rise to both sides of the
historical Gezira Palace. This was built in 1869 to accommodate the illustrious
foreign guests invited for the opening of the Suez Canal, like empress Eugenie
of France and Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria. Today the renovated old palace
houses the lobby, several restaurants and the Omar Khayyam Casino. Very
historical!
The rooms in the new towers are quite big, and ours in the 10th
floor had a fantastic view on the Nile. Of course they provide all the services
and standards you would expect from a 5 Star hotel. Location is also quite
good, you are in leafy and chic Zamalek, but still close enough to all the
sights in Downtown.
What we didn't like: The hotel has more than 1000 rooms and suites and a lot of the guests are business travellers. Compared to other Luxury hotels we felt that the service, e.g. at Check-in, was quite rushed and standardized. The TV channel list provided did not match the actual channels available on the TV.
Conclusion: Decent hotel with very good standards and great location, but not as atmospheric as staying in an old palace could be.
Booking: www.marriott.com, Doubles from 170 Euro. Our stay was sponsored by Marriott.
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